Mary C. Isaacson

Mary C. Isaacson serves as a Contract Specialist at the Federal Correctional Institution at Waseca, within the Bureau of Prisons under the Department of Justice. In this role, she manages the acquisition of essential goods and services critical to the institution’s operational mission, ensuring safe, secure, and humane conditions for incarcerated populations. Her responsibilities include planning, soliciting, evaluating, and awarding contracts for food supply chains, dietary services, and institutional self-sufficiency programs. She specializes in procurement actions governed by FAR Part 13 and Part 17, with a focus on requirements that support nutritional adequacy, dietary compliance, and health-supportive programming across federal correctional operations. Isaacson maintains consistent working relationships with a network of qualified vendors specializing in food manufacturing, wholesale distribution, and institutional food service. Her procurement activities involve close collaboration with suppliers who meet stringent federal food safety and dietary standards, including those certified under HACCP and GFSI frameworks. She engages with both large-scale distributors and niche manufacturers to ensure reliable, compliant, and scalable delivery of perishable and non-perishable food products to a high-security federal facility. A strong advocate for small business participation, Isaacson consistently prioritizes small business set-asides, with 86.2% of her acquisitions designated as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5. Her contracting patterns reflect a deliberate commitment to socioeconomic programs, frequently awarding contracts to small, woman-owned, and HUBZone-certified firms. This focus aligns with DOJ and OMB mandates to expand economic opportunity while enhancing supply chain resilience. Her primary procurement focus centers on NAICS 424410 (General Line Grocery Merchant Wholesalers) and 311999 (All Other Miscellaneous Food Manufacturing), with significant activity in soft drink manufacturing (312111) and food service contracting (722310). She possesses deep expertise in sourcing compliant, shelf-stable, and nutritionally balanced food products tailored to institutional dietary needs, including religious, medical, and cultural accommodations.